Building Bridges

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust currently running two Building Bridges groups. The first covers Swindon and north Wiltshire and the second covers south and west Wiltshire. Here at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, we are now offering an exciting new programme which is aimed at people over the age of 25 who are currently job seeking or out of work.

Conservation work is a fantastic way to develop new skills, build confidence and improve your general wellbeing. The aim of the Building Bridges programme is to improve your confidence, skills and employability, moving you one step closer to employment.

Working as part of the group of volunteers, you will learn new skills such as hedge laying, fencing and coppicing. As well as this there will be chance to learn survey skills, wildlife identification and woodland crafts skills, all in the stunning setting of our beautiful nature reserves. We also offer a range of resilience-based training, covering topics such as relaxation skills and personal development. It is also a chance to polish up you CV and job search skills, ready for that next step.

We have a minibus which we use to collect you from a meeting point, making it much easier to get you out and about in the countryside. If you wish to volunteer you must be over the age of 25, not in employment and have the right to work in the UK.

What is the Building Bridges programme?

The Building Bridges programme supports people across Swindon and Wiltshire who are facing significant challenges in being able to develop their skills, access education or move towards the world of work. Taking part in the programme is entirely voluntary and all of our advice and support is offered free of charge.

We work with people on a one-to-one basis to help them address the challenges and barriers they are facing and develop their own personalised plan to help them achieve their goals at a pace they are comfortable with.

The programme is a partnership of local charities, voluntary groups and organisations who are experts at supporting people and giving them the skills and confidence they need to move forward.

Each participant will have someone who works with them as a mentor, helping them to access support from across the partnership to help them achieve their goals. These mentors can also work with family members, carers, key workers or other people supporting you if you give us permission – it is entirely up to you.

We understand that there are many different factors which affect whether people feel ready to take the next step forwards - this is why we also offer specialist help and support in a number of areas including developing physical and mental wellbeing, accessing debt and financial advice and help with issues such as transport and childcare.

Building Bridges is a partnership of 40 organisations that has come together to deliver the Building Better Opportunities Programme across Swindon and Wiltshire, led by Community First. The project has received up to £3.9m funding from the European Social Fund as part of the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England. The Department for Work and Pensions is the Managing Authority for the England European Social Fund Programme. Established by the European Union, the European Social Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support skills development, employment and job creation, social inclusion and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding

Contact Information

For more information about the Building Bridges programme please contact:

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